Obama knocked for skipping bilaterals

9/24/12 12:52 PM EDT

News anchors Monday weighed in on President Barack Obama’s decision to appear on “The View” but not schedule any one-on-one meetings with world leaders during the United Nations General Assembly, with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd dubbing the move “odd” and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer calling it a “missed opportunity.”

On MSNBC, Todd noted the president “won’t have a single one-on-one meeting with a world leader on his schedule. Not anybody.”

“The White House also argues that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice will hold meetings,” Todd said after airing a clip of Fox News’s Chris Wallace pressing Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs about the president's schedule. “But folks it is odd to have a president come to the United Nations and not have any bilaterals. Granted it is a campaign year, but still odd considering what’s going on in the Middle East.”

And Blitzer told CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield that appearing on "The View" offers the president the chance to speak to millions of viewers and his campaign “determined that is an important thing for the president to do only six weeks before an election. Same reason why Mitt Romney the other day went on Kelly Ripa’s show.” But skipping bilateral meetings may be a mistake, Blitzer said.

“I do think that there potentially is a missed opportunity this week for the President of the United States to meet with some world leaders, but he’s made the decision that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with those world leaders, not him” Blitzer said.

Banfield replied, “And I think he’ll be taking it on the chin for it too, without question, with the critics.”